At noon the next day, Zhang Xuan and his entourage arrived in Zhucheng County, which is located in the southern mountainous area of the Jiaodong Peninsula.

But in the mountains, there are also paths through the mountains that connect Gaomi County and Langya County.

The reason why Zhang Xuan came to inspect Zhucheng County was because the next step was that the Flying Eagle Army was about to launch a campaign against the bandit Sun Xuanya entrenched in Langya County, and Zhang Xuan also promised Pei Renji that he would cooperate with Pei Renji's main force from the eastern front.

As soon as Zhang Xuan and his entourage arrived outside Zhucheng County, Luo Shixin, who was stationed in Zhucheng County, galloped out with more than a dozen people on horseback, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhang, why don't you send someone to talk about it first!" I didn't even have lunch ready! ”

Luo Shixin has not been in the history of Gaomi military for a few days, and he has just become familiar with the situation, he has 2,000 people under his command, mainly stationed in Zhucheng County and Dongguan County in the west, these two county towns Langya bandits must enter Gaomi County, as long as these two county seats, Gaomi County will be safe and sound.

Luo Shixin rode up on horseback, and suddenly saw the carriage, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and immediately understood, and whispered to Zhang Xuan: "Are you taking your sister-in-law out to relax?" ”

Zhang Xuan took Lu Qing back to Beihai County from the capital, everyone walked all the way, they were very familiar with each other, of course Luo Shixin knew who Lu Qing was Zhang Xuan, as soon as his voice fell, Zhang Xuan slapped his scalp and scolded with a smile: "You muddy boy, I haven't seen you for a few days, and your skin is itching again." ”

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they saw that Luo Shixin was beaten in embarrassment, and Luo Bing touched the back of his head that was beaten painfully and muttered: "I'm also a prince of one side anyway, can I save some face?" ”

Zhang Xuan said with a smile: "Since you want to be a prince, you have to show some of the appearance of a prince." Don't talk about begging for beatings. ”

"Obey the order!"

Luo Shixin responded listlessly and took Zhang Xuan and his party into the city.

Zhucheng County is not big, only more than 1,000 households, because it is located at the junction of Langya County and Gaomi County, the business is relatively prosperous, and there are shops buying and selling furs everywhere. Traders buying furs can be seen everywhere on the streets, and the Langya fox skins produced here are the most famous.

Since Luo Shixin himself was still living in the barracks, he couldn't find a suitable house to house them for a while, so Zhang Xuan chartered the largest inn in Zhucheng County to let the soldiers and Lu Qing's maid rest, they came from Beihai County, walked all the way for three days, and they were really a little tired.

Lu Qing and Ah Yuan went to the inner courtyard to rest. But Zhang Xuan couldn't be idle, and he immediately rushed to the barracks with Luo Shixin.

Inside the big tent, Luo Shixin became serious instead of his usual hip-hop jokes, and he hung up a map, which was the army deployment map of Gaomi County.

Zhang Xuan needed to understand the defense situation of the Gaomi line, and if they attacked Langya County, their main force would not send troops from Gaomi County. The main reason is that the road is long and the logistics supply of food is difficult. However, it is possible to surprise troops from Gaomi County and go around behind the enemy army.

Another important role of Gaomi County is to prevent the counterattack of Sun Xuanya's army, Zhang Xuan of Beihai County is not worried, but from Gaomi County can also enter the hinterland of forces controlled by Zhang Xuan, as long as Zhang Xuan's army holds Zhucheng County and Dongguan County, Sun Xuanya's army will not be able to enter Gaomi County. This is also the main reason for Zhang Xuan's visit to Gaomi County this time, he can't estimate the people's livelihood in Gaomi County for the time being, the big war is coming, and there is not much time left for him.

Luo Shixin pointed to the map and said: "At present, there are 500 people deployed in Dongguan County, and the remaining 1,500 people are concentrated in Zhucheng County for defense. There are no garrisons in other counties of Gaomi County for the time being. ”

Zhang Xuan frowned, "Why are there only five hundred people in Dongguan County?" ”

Zhang Xuan has not been to Dongguan yet, and he is not too familiar with the situation there, but from common sense, the garrison in Dongguan County is still a little too small.

Luo Shixin said with a smile: "The general may not know that Dongguan County is actually built in the middle of the mountain, and the terrain is very dangerous, which is the only way for Langya County to enter the north road of Gaomi County, and five hundred guards are enough." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, he looked at the map carefully, pointed to a mountain between the two counties, and asked Guo Lin, the county commander of the next city, "Guo County, the mountain is not high here, there should be a passage!" ”

Guo Lin hurriedly bowed down and replied, "There are some trails that can pass through the mountains. ”

"How far are Zhucheng County and Dongguan County apart?"

"About three hundred miles."

Zhang Xuan pondered for a while, and said to Luo Shixin: "Reduce the garrison of Zhucheng County by 300 people, establish ten checkpoints between Zhucheng County and Dongguan County, and build a simple beacon, hoping to do this well within ten days." ”

"General, I'm afraid I won't be able to repair the sentry fort in ten days." Luo Shixin said urgently.

"There must be a checkpoint, and now that the weather is warm, you can use the camp tent first, but the checkpoint must be there, the time is very tight, and the deployment will start this afternoon."

"Obey the order!"

Zhang Xuan nodded with a smile, and said: "I will walk around the barracks and nearby in the afternoon, go to Dongguan County tomorrow, and then return to Beihai County from Dongguan County, if you have any requirements, try to put them forward this afternoon." ”

Luo Shixin bit his lip and said in a low voice: "I want to mention it now!" ”

"What?"

Luo Shixin hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to say: "I also want to participate in the war against Langya County!" ”

Shandong was the first to break out in the tide of rebellion, but because the bandits were so ruthless and the population died out in large numbers, the social productive forces were greatly damaged, and the survival foundation of the bandits from all walks of life was greatly weakened.

Once the Sui army counterattacked, the rebels and bandits from all walks of life quickly disintegrated. In just a few years, the Flying Eagle Army led by Zhang Xutuo has annihilated most of the bandits in Shandong.

Originally, in the deployment of Yang Guanghe's army, the bandits in Langya County should be exterminated by Yang Yichen, mainly because Sun Xuanya mostly ravaged Xuzhou and had little impact on the Qilu region in the north.

But as Zhang Xutuo was transferred back to the imperial court and Pei Renji controlled the Flying Eagle Army, Yang Guang let go of the control of the Flying Eagle Army and decided to let Pei Renji exterminate Sun Xuanya in Langya County, which was actually to give Pei Renji a chance to consolidate his power.

Langya County is today's Linyi area of Shandong, the central and northern part is the Yimeng Mountains, Yishui and Shushui two big rivers run through the whole territory, Langya County is the least populated among the seven counties in Shandong, the weakest economic county, but the area is the largest, mainly mountainous and hilly.

Linyi County is located in the southernmost part of Langya County, close to Xiapi County and Pengcheng County, Sun Xuanya's nest is located here, due to too many mountains in the north, the march is inconvenient, Sun Xuanya's military and financial resources are mainly from the Xuzhou area.

However, Sun Xuanya is only the general representative of the bandits in Langya County, in fact, there are actually two bandit armies in Langya County, one is Sun Xuanya's army, and the other is Wang Bo's army.

After Wang Bo was defeated by Zhang Xutuo in Qi County, he led the remnants of the army to flee to Langya County, and gradually grew stronger, at present Wang Bo has 25,000 troops, and the old nest is in the east of Langya County, not far from Lu County.

In addition, Sun Xuanya also sent an army to be stationed in Ju County and Dong'an County in the north, each with more than 1,000 people, and Wang Bo also sent an army to be stationed in Xintai County in the north, about 3,000 people, so that the entire Langya County was controlled by the bandits.

Linyi County is a big county, the circumference of the city is more than 20 miles, the population is nearly 200,000 people, more than half of them are the families of Sun Xuanya's bandits, they weave cloth and farm land near the city, produce a large amount of cloth and grain to maintain Sun Xuanya's tens of thousands of troops, commerce is also very developed in Linyi County, there are hundreds of shops of all sizes, dozens of wine shops, inns, green buildings, every day the county is bustling, people come and go, very lively.

At noon that day, a small caravan came from outside Xicheng, more than 20 mules, four or five men, mules carrying dozens of bamboo boxes, which is also the most common small caravan in Shandong, most of which are sent by a small family somewhere to earn some money to subsidize the family's needs.

But the other identity of this small caravan is the scout of the Flying Eagle Army from Beihai County, and the person at the head is the scout general Shen Guang.

Shen Guang is the scout leader of Zhang Xuan's subordinates, and his official position in the imperial court is still a captain, but Zhang Xuan named him a partial general, in charge of 300 elite scout troops, this time it was Shen Guang who sent out to invite Ying to go south, he is from Wu County, and several of his subordinates are also from the Jiangnan area, all with southern accents, so it is not easy to arouse the suspicion of the defenders.

Shen Guang is the first time to come to Linyi, he is not very familiar with this place, he saw an inn on the street not far from the city gate, so he turned back to a few men and said: "Let's stay first!" (To be continued......)